It had been 77 days from Andrew Conway’s last game in a Munster jersey but he was showing no signs of flagging.
74 minutes into an intense Champions Cup scrap against Toulon and Francois Trinh-Duc was looking to relieve pressure.
The outhalf should have found touch but that was not Munster’s problem. Conway reached high above his head and plucked the ball down.
His decision to counter-attack, when you look back on the replays, took 0.1 seconds. He put the call on his shoulders and torched every Toulon player within tackling distance.
Following Munster’s 20-19 victory, which sets up a last four clash with Racing 92 in Bordeaux, Peter O’Mahony paid tribute to Conway and his “unusual brilliance”.
“A lot of guys would have been happy to let the ball go out – leave the forwards to go for a maul or set-piece play – but that’s a piece of unusual brilliance and we’re lucky enough to have these kind of guys in our team.”
In late January, a knee injury had interfered with Conway’s otherwise excellent season. He would have featured heavily in Ireland’s Grand Slam campaign but kept having his return date pushed back. It must have been frustrating as hell but further chances will come in the green jersey.
In the red of Munster, the versatile Dub proved he was up for the fight as early as he shoved a flying Joshua Tuisova over the sideline to prevent a try.
Conway did not win every high ball he contested and he was saved in the second half when Alex Wootton made a covering tackle after he was rounded too easily by Semi Rhadrada. Still, it was a gutsy outing from the 26-year-old and it was capped off by one of the best tries seen at Thomond Park in recent years.
Following the match, Munster head coach Johann van Graan revealed that Conway’s performance was all the more remarkable considering his 11 weeks out of competitive action and how he was far from 100% in training all week.
“A great Munster man,” remarked van Graan, “he’s actually my neighbour.
“To come through such a long injury, he wasn’t, by his own standards, that sharp in training this week. He’s one of the guys who regularly says ‘I just want the ball’.
“It’s interesting the way rugby games work out, the ball went to him and it will go down as one of the all-time great plays of Munster. You’ve just got to look at his face, he was in a real battle. It was an incredible try.”
Van Graan could not go through his post-match briefing without paying tribute to centres Sam Arnold and Rory Scannell.
“From when I announced the team, I called Sam and Rory in and I said to them both, ‘It’s not about who you’re playing against, it’s about you’.
“It’s interesting how life works out, from the first game I was involved in against Zebre, Sam and Rory were the centres and against Leicester in December and I said, ‘Life works out the way it should and you two in the 12 and 13 Munster jerseys, I don’t want anything special, just do what you normally do’, and I thought they were incredible.”
“That defence,” he added. “I’ll have to watch the game tonight when I get home. What can I say? Special.”
